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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Fars of Iran

The Fars of Iran, numbering approximately 116,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are the core Persian ethnic group descended from Indo-Iranian nomads who settled the Fars region of southwestern Iran by the ninth century BC, forming the majority around which the Persian Empire and modern Iranian identity took shape. They mostly adhere to Shia Islam and Southwestern Fars is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Fars

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Persian-Median Peoples
Country: Iran
People Cluster: Persian
Primary Language(s): Southwestern Fars (fay)
Primary Religion(s): Shia Islam
Population: 116,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Concentrated CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024151
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Pray for the Fars of Iran

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Shia Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
Shia Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Southwestern Fars
Language Family: Indo-European

70%
%
Fars, Southwestern Speakers

Media Resources in Southwestern Fars:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Southwestern Fars:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Southwestern Fars bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Fars are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Fars:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Fars of Iran

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
readRomans 3:12

Pray that those who are enslaved to sin will admit their need for a Savior, acknowledging that no one is righteous.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 3:23

Pray that the gospel will advance and many will acknowledge that all have sinned, fall short of God's glory, and need a Savior to reconcile them to God.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
readPhilippians 2:5-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will imitate His humility in all they do.

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
readIsaiah 51:11

Pray that, as God sends people to cross cultures and share the good news of Jesus, many will turn to the Lord in repentance and faith and start a personal relationship with Him that will bring them everlasting joy.

Fars, Southwestern Across Countries (ROP3 - 103002) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▼
FarsPG024151FarsIran116,000Engaged yet UnreachedSouthwestern FarsShia Islam

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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